Designing an Artificial Lighting Scheme usable for all

In 2012, the headquarters of the umbrella organisation ‘Disabled People’s
Organisation Denmark’ (Danske Handicaporganisationer) inaugurated an
office building which offers workspace for the administrations of all the
member organisations. The ambitions for the building were high - in the
brief, it was stated that the building would introduce groundbreaking levels of
accessibility, making it the most universally accessible office building in the
world, allowing anyone regardless of physical disability to move around
freely in the house and work in any of the offices. This includes an artificial
lighting design which makes it possible for the blind and visually impaired to
use the building in a self-reliant manner whether they be seated at their
working desks or moving around the building, as well as suitable for optimal
lip-reading to the deaf and hearing impaired.
Based on a post-occupancy evaluation conducted 2 years after the
organisations moved in, which includes both quantitative measurements and
qualitative registrations and data from interviews with users of the building,
the present paper evaluates the artificial lighting design for the corridors and
the central atrium. An important aim was to establish artificial lighting which
could effectively guide the blind or visually impaired through the building
while at the same time ensuring the kind of lighting usable for the hearing
impaired when lip-reading.
Based on the evaluation, this paper discusses how this lighting design is
experienced by its current users and how it performs in relation to the users’
needs. These discussions are put in relation to established standards
regarding light for the visually as well as hearing impaired. The paper
focuses on the qualities of light in relation to the space for which it is
designed as well as the aspects of light that are important when planning
working spaces for physically disabled users